GEM/Kepler Student David Kinzuzi wins YouthConnekt Africa Green Growth Innovation Award

My Green Home wins YouthConnekt Africa Green Growth Innovation Award

My Green Home, an innovative social enterprise that addresses the challenges of urban waste management, has won the 2018 YouthConnekt Africa Green Growth Innovation Award. The award of $5,000 was presented by the Permanent Secretary of the Ministry of Environemnt, Fatina Mukarubibi, to the Co-founder and CEO, David Kinzuzi. David is a student in Southern New Hampshire University’s Global Education Movement (GEM) Program, in partnership with Kepler.

The YouthConnekt Africa Awards honour, recognize and reward outstanding achievements by young African business innovators (aged 16-35). From more than 380 applications from across the continent, 12 finalists in four categories were selected and invited to participate at this year’s Youth Connekt Africa Summit to present their business solutions, attend a two-day boot camp and compete for the main prize. One winner was selected for each of award categories: pioneer for prosperity, economic development, social innovation, and green growth.

The top three for the Green Growth Innovation Award included:

  • First Place: David Kinzuzi, My Green Home (Rwanda)
  • Second Place: Cedric Tokombe, Makala Bio (DRC)
  • Third Place: Edmond Duah Kwaku, Solar Pulse (Ghana)

“With the $5,000 prize, we will be able to increase our production capacity. This will lead to us recycling more plastic into huge quantities of pavers and help us serve contractors, not only households. We will be able to strengthen and consolidate our offerings and get more clients. We will then be able grow our workforce and have more impact in preserving our environment. In five years to come, our goal is to recycle one hundred percent of plastic that is used in Rwanda. We are working on our expansion strategy in East Africa to increase our impact in fighting climate change and plastic pollution and contribute to achieving Agenda 2063,” said David Kinzuzi, CEO, My Green Home.The top three for the Green Growth Innovation Award have been invited to attend the Africa Green Growth Forum, taking place in Kigali from 26-30 November 2018 where they will present their innovations. The award was sponsored by the Global Green Growth Institute as part of their involvement in the Forum.

Other YouthConnekt Africa Awards Winners

Pioneer for Prosperity Award: Emma Stella Gakuo from Kenya, who owns Maziwa Plus Cooling System which uses mobile cooling technology to reduce milk product spoilage for rural daily farmers, addressing problem of food waste and creating jobs.

Digital Inclusion Award: Dr Charles Umeh from Nigeria, owner of Jaracare, who is addressing poor access to quality healthcare among people in remote areas through an online medical consulting platform connecting the general public with doctors at no cost.

Social Innovation Award: Rusell Osah from Nigeria, who has established the 10,000 Affordable Housing Project, which is using business, finance, research, and deploying partners in a collaborative effort to build affordable homes for low-income families.

Watch the YCA 2018 Awards